Watch it Burn
by perfectlyrose
Summary: They always leave a calling card after a robbery. On the back of the card, written in flowing, gold script are the names the world knows them by: "The Doctor and the Bad Wolf." Bank robbers AU.
1. Prologue

A/N: The majority of this story is still being written but this is its beginning, the inspiration. We're going to go backwards and find out how they got to this point before moving forwards. So this is essentially a prologue. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine

_Disclaimer: I own nothing of Doctor Who. I am just playing with the characters because they play with my emotions._

* * *

_**TEAM TARDIS STRIKES AGAIN**_

That's the headline that greets major cities across the world on a Wednesday morning in January. The bank robbing duo had cleaned out a major bank in Chicago overnight in their normal style. The authorities have no idea what to do about them or how to catch them. No one even knows their target has been hit until someone arrives to open the bank the next morning and finds their business cards. One is always taped to the front door, a second left on the bank manager's desk.

In the middle of the ivory card is an embossed blue police box. Underneath that, also in blue, are the words "Team TARDIS." The card has always baffled the authorities who have no idea how the outdated police box plays in, except to possibly taunt the actual police. They have no idea what the hell "TARDIS" stands for since it is not a word that anyone has ever encountered before. The best linguists in the world have taken a look at it and offered no solutions beyond the obvious- that it was an acronym whose meaning remained a mystery.

On the back of the card, written in flowing, gold script are the names the world knows them by: "The Doctor and the Bad Wolf."

Really, they're kind of celebrities even though no one knows who they are or what they look like. Team TARDIS has robbed banks in major cities all over the world and there never seems to be a rhyme or reason behind where they hit. There will be months between one strike and the next and then two within two weeks. The public is fascinated with the atypical thieves. They're bank robbers, yes, but they don't actually keep the money they steal. As far as the police can tell, they keep enough to live and travel on but that's it. About a week following the robbery, a portion of the money is given back to the bank along with a list of the holes in their security. The Doctor and the Bad Wolf are thorough, listing all the security weaknesses they exploited as well as the ones they noticed but didn't actually use. The rest of the money mysteriously appears in the accounts of various charities or families in need around London or New York or whatever city they happen to be in. The authorities can't even reclaim the money from the charities because while it is obvious that the money came from the bank robbery, nothing can be traced or proven.

It's assumed that they hail from the UK since their first documented robbery was in London and the police box emblem they use on their calling card is also distinctly British. It's been five years since that first robbery and the police are no closer to catching them now than they were in the frenzied aftermath of the first hit. They never left any evidence, no trace that could lead back to who they actually were. They wouldn't admit it to the press but those who have investigated know that the only way these robberies will ever stop is if the Doctor and the Bad Wolf get bored.

The police don't know how right they are. The Doctor, also known as John Smith, and the Bad Wolf, Rose Tyler, rob banks for the adrenaline rush. There's more to it than that, of course; the Robin Hood element of their thefts being high on that list. But to the two of them, the rush of a successful heist cannot be matched by anything. The anticipation, the buildup as they plan out every moment, it all culminates in one night of success. John and Rose barely make it back to wherever they're staying before clothes start coming off. It might have been almost six years since their association began but the sizzling tension between them has not faded one iota. John has her backed up against the wall as soon as they're through the door of their temporary flat, mouth on her neck, hips pushing into hers. Her hands latch onto his ears and pull him up to her mouth and they laugh into their kiss, giddy with their success and relief and just how lucky they are that they found each other.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: I know this says bank robbers AU and we will actually get to the bank robbing at some point, I promise. But first we're going back to the beginning and finding out how Rose and the Doctor meet and become partners in crime. We'll see the Doctor in the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy this and please let me know what you think! Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Word Count: 1,859

_Disclaimer: I own nothing of Doctor Who. I am just playing with the characters because they play with my emotions._

* * *

It's hard to say when John Smith and Rose Tyler became aware of each other's existence. The community of criminals in London wasn't a particularly tightknit group and they ran in different circles. John was mainly a hacker although he did engage in thievery if the occasion called for it. Rose was a thief and a grifter. She could work people like John could work computers. Whispers here and there carried a name and praise of a job well done, but nothing flashy that stuck in the memory; the mark of a good career criminal really. They could have continued on in this fashion indefinitely if a disaster hadn't caused their worlds to collide.

"Jack! Slow down, I just woke up." Rose stretched as she sat up in bed, mobile pressed to her ear and blonde hair sticking out at all angles around her face. "What's wrong?" She asked through a yawn. Dealing with any sort of conversation before tea was always a challenge and when it was a conversation after only three hours of sleep the only thing that kept Rose from threatening violence was the panic in her friend's voice.

"They stole my plans, Rose. They came in here and took all of my programs and diagrams and notes, wiped my computers, found the backup and wiped that too. Two years of work, gone! And when my employer figures out it's all gone, I'm going to be dead. And I mean that literally." The highly agitated American's voice was shaking, rage and fear mixing in equal parts as he relayed the news.

"Who took them? You just keep sayin' 'they,'" Rose asked, trying to keep the hint of frustration out of her voice.

"The Agency. The Agency took them."

"Oh shit." Rose raked a hand through her hair as she tried to process all the information Jack had just given her.

The Agency was serious business. No one knew exactly who ran it but they had shown up five years ago, set up shop, and now had their hands in every pie in London's criminal world. If a big job went down, the Agency knew about it and demanded a cut of the profit in return for not reporting to the authorities. No one crossed them, or rather, no one crossed them and lived to tell the tale. Rose had personally always made sure that the jobs she pulled were small enough to not be on the Agency's radar.

Captain Jack Harkness was an enigma for all that he was one of Rose's best friends. They'd met when she'd lifted his wallet two years ago and he had followed her back to her flat to ask for it back. Well...also to try and charm her into bed but that was Jack; tall, dark, handsome and just oozing charm and sex. Rose had been too flustered at getting caught to even consider shagging him, no matter how good-looking he was. To cover the embarrassment (and to distract him from talking about sex) Rose had demanded to know how he had followed her without her noticing. Jack laughed at her and made a deal that he would teach her how to spot a tail if she helped him settle into London. And so an unlikely friendship was born. Rose never found out much about his mysterious "employer," only that they were apparently very rich, very powerful, and very well connected. If Rose was being completely honest, she was never even sure what Jack was working on for his employer either. He was extremely tightlipped about it and had given no indication that it was important enough to garner the Agency's attention.

Regardless of his secrets, the American conman was always willing to lend a helping hand to Rose. He also never stopped trying to get her into bed with him but it had long since become playful banter between them instead of an actual attempt on Jack's part. It was rare for them to have a conversation that wasn't laced with innuendo and the last time Rose had heard him sound so serious, someone had been in danger of losing their life, and if the Agency was really behind this theft then the loss of life was definitely a possibility.

"Yeah, shit doesn't even begin to sum this up. I can't let them have those plans, Rose. I have to get them back."

"Jack," Rose began, her tone cautious, "You're not a thief. You're a conman. And you can't run a con on the Agency, especially not when they're going to be expecting you. Obviously you're already on their radar if they knew to nick your plans."

"I have to get them back some way. The Agency having those plans is bad news. Like disaster on a global scale, bad news." Jack's voice held an edge of desperation, something Rose had never heard from the suave captain. Usually he was the consummate conman and had his emotions in tight control, ready to deploy whatever expression or attitude was necessary to get the job done. Hearing him this close to the edge was unnerving.

"Alright, so you've got to get them back. Doesn't mean you have to do it yourself. They're going to expect you to try and charm your way in and will have planned for it. They know your tricks, so the security around the plans is going to be tailored to your particular set of skills." Rose tucked the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she filled the kettle. This problem required caffeine. "You're gonna need to hire someone with different talents and a willingness to take on the Agency." She hummed as she thought, this was exactly the kind of puzzle she enjoyed trying to figure out. It required knowing who would have the skills to steal the plans, a fairly populated list, and who had the right temperament to actually do it. The second requirement was much trickier, especially since Jack's problem involved the Agency.

"Christine de Souza," Rose said finally after mentally discarding most of the thieves she knew of and fixing her cup of tea. "Sorry, Lady Christine de Souza might be up for it. She wouldn't mind leaving London for a bit after pulling the job to wait for the heat from the Agency to back off. And they wouldn't be expecting her since it's well known that the two of ya had that big spat at whatever that social event was a few months back." Rose stopped, realizing that Jack hadn't said a word. "Jack? You still there?"

"Yeah, and I have an idea." Rose could practically hear the gears turning in Jack's head over the phone.

"No, I know that tone, Jack. That's the tone you use when you're trying to convince me that your crazy plan isn't as crazy as I think it is. That tone never turns out well for me."

"That's cause you're a sucker for crazy plans. But hear me out." Excitement had replaced the desperation in Jack's voice. He had a plan now, one he knew would work if he could get the players on board. And if there was one thing Captain Jack Harkness was good at, it was convincing people to do what he wanted.

"You're completely right that the Agency is going to be expecting me and that I'm no thief but I'm going to have to hire someone I trust and Christine de Souza does not fit the bill. She'd probably get in, steal the plans and then sell them back to the Agency instead of giving them to me."

Rose cocked her head to the side, considering. "Yeah, she probably would. Who do you have in mind then?"

"You."

Rose froze with her cup of tea halfway to her lips. "You're joking." Jack didn't answer. "You're havin' me on, yeah? Jack?"

"I'm completely serious, Rosie. You're the perfect person for the job. Not only are you one of the best active thieves in the city, if not all of Europe," he stopped when Rose made a noise of protest. "Don't argue with me, I've seen you work before and it's true."

Rose made a mental note to ask when he'd seen her work. She'd never worked a thievery job with him before. She'd run a couple of cons with him but that was it.

Jack was already continuing to lay out his reasons. "Not only that, the Agency has no idea who you are. You've managed to stay off their radar by not pulling any big heists so they don't have any idea that a thief of your caliber is unaccounted for in the city. And on top of all that, I know I can trust you."

"Jack, I'm flattered by your confidence in me, I am, but I don't think I can do a job that big. Not when there's so much on the line and definitely not on my own. You'll probably need a team of some sort to pull this off now that I think about it, and you know I always work alone." Rose rambled, trying not to panic at the mere thought of trying to do a job of this magnitude herself. If someone pulled it off, it would go down as one of the biggest accomplishments in the London crime world in decades. It was practically a suicide mission.

"You know I don't exaggerate anyone's talents. You have the necessary skills to pull this off. You're probably the only one who could do it." Jack sounded deadly serious and Rose's heart sank as she began to see the inevitable outcome.

She was going to rob the Agency.

God help her.

"I can't do it alone, Jack. I don't have the tech skills to get around the security systems they have in place there."

"You already know what security systems they have in place?" he questioned, surprised.

Rose mumbled something about wanting to be prepared if the Agency ever kidnapped her and Jack laughed, the sound doing wonders to lift both of their moods.

"I can get someone to work the tech. In fact, I know just the person. He's a hacker and does a bit of thievery as well. Should be perfect and he owes me a favor," he mused.

"Is a favor really enough to convince someone to take on the Agency?"

"Oh, he would take on the Agency without me calling in my favor. I'll have to do some convincing to bring him around to working with a partner though."

Rose groaned. "You're going to make two people who normally work alone try and find a dynamic to take down one of the most difficult targets in London?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do. The Agency won't know what hit them. I'll call you sometime tonight once I've talked to the hacker." Before giving her a chance to protest, Jack rang off leaving Rose staring at her mobile with a look of disbelief.

Shaking her head, she took a large gulp of tea and put the kettle back on. It had certainly been one hell of a morning.


	3. Chapter 2

Word Count: 2,163

A/N:This chapter is Rose and the Doctor's first meeting. Again, I know this says bank robbers AU and we will actually get to the bank robbing at some point, Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Rose ran a hand over her hair as she stepped into a posh London restaurant, straightening the long strands the wind had mussed on her way in. Reflexively she tugged on her dress as well, nervous habits that she'd never quite been able to kick getting the best of her. Jack had called her back this afternoon and told her to be here at 8 to meet the hacker he'd mentioned. After a day spent reviewing the Agency's blueprints and security systems, Rose had slipped on her favorite black dress and red heels and made her way to the restaurant downtown. She let her hips sway a bit more than normal as she approached the maître d' and inquired about the table Jack had booked under one of his aliases.

So she was a bit nervous about taking on the Agency, she would have to be crazy not to be. But _this_, this playing of people, whether they be the maître d' who had stolen about three peeks down her cleavage in their 45 second interaction or the still unknown hacker, this was definitely in her wheelhouse. She had handled her fair share of computer geeks and if this one Jack had described as "perfect" (that was all he'd tell Rose, refused to give her a name or description of the man she would be working with) was anything like the majority of them, then half her mission would be accomplished as soon as he caught sight of her in this dress. If she was going to work with someone, she was definitely going to be the one in charge. The easiest way to ensure that situation was to establish dominance tonight and Rose was not above using her physical assets to do so. The corners of her lips lifted in a smirk as she let a waiter lead her to the table and she felt eyes following her. It was a rather spectacular dress, if she did say so herself.

The waiter came to a stop at a table in the back corner. Rose could not help the sharp intake of breath at the sight that was waiting for her there. This was not a normal computer geek. Her eyes wandered over the man lounging at the table as she waited for her chair to be pulled out. His face was all sharp angles and prominent features; big ears, big nose, and a pair of piercing blue eyes that were sizing her up. The combination shouldn't be attractive, Rose told herself, but it undeniably was. An inch or so of brown hair graced the top of his head and Rose wondered if it was as soft as it looked. Catching that thought, she shook herself out of her mental wanderings. This was a job, not a date. Clad in a black leather jacket over what appeared to be a maroon t-shirt stretched tight across a broad chest and wearing a pair of black jeans, he did not fit in with the rest of the diners in the restaurant, dressed to the nines, or with her mental image of a hacker

"So you're the one that our mutual friend wants me to break my no-working-with-partners rule for," the man's voice came out in a rough Northern burr and he swept his eyes over her again, an unimpressed look on his face.

Rose fought back a shiver, feeling the gaze like a physical caress. He might be unimpressed with her as a potential partner in crime but there was heat in his gaze. Apparently the dress had achieved its intended effect after all. Letting her earlier smirk creep back on her face, Rose leaned forward and rested an elbow on the table top, providing him with a view down her dress if he chose to take it. "Rose Tyler, at your service," she purred as soon as she saw his eyes flicker downward.

"Can I get you two anything to drink?" The waiter stepped up to the table, oblivious to the tension crackling between the two patrons. Rose picked a red wine off the list at random and ordered a glass and her companion asked for the same. She watched him listen to the waiter rattling off the night's specials before finally leaving and then caught his eye.

She relaxed back in her chair, keeping her eyes locked with his. "So, who are you?"

He mirrored her position, leaning back from the table. She could hear the creak of leather as he crossed his arms across his chest. "John Smith."

"Seriously?" The posh accent Rose had been affecting disappeared and her rougher London accent came through instead in her shock. "Come off it, no one's actually named John Smith."

"Think I know my own name, thanks." John's voice was dripping with condescension.

"I think you think you know lots of things," Rose shot back, annoyed. "If you want to give me an alias that's your choice, just know that if we're going to work together you're gonna have to trust me."

This time it's John who leans forward, propping his elbows on the white tablecloth. "That's where you're mistaken, Rose Tyler," he wrapped his voice around her name deliberately, tasting every syllable. "I don't have to do anything, especially not trust you." He leaned back again and the corners of his mouth turned up the slightest bit, the aura of danger he had been exuding dissipating as quickly as it had appeared. "Don't trust anyone, me."

Rose caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she contemplated her next move. If the last few minutes were any indication, this John Smith was going to give her whiplash with his changing moods. "So how do you know our mutual friend?"

Neither of them was going to risk actually using Jack's name, could never be too careful when the Agency was involved.

John shrugged his shoulders. "How does anyone meet him? I was at a pub drinking and he tried to proposition me."

She couldn't help it, Rose burst out laughing. The few diners at nearby tables turned to look and Rose clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise but her shoulders were still shaking. A glance at John almost set her off again; he looked rather alarmed at her outburst.

"Sorry 'bout that," she said, wiping an errant tear off her face. "God, I needed a laugh today. That's just so him though. I take it you didn't accept his offer?"

"Not my type," John said. "Plus, he didn't even buy me a drink before asking. I've got standards."

Rose continued to giggle and John felt the corners of his lips stretching into a smile in response. This girl was quite the mystery. Jack had refused to tell him anything, just saying that she was an extremely good thief and perfect for the job. John knew Jack did not give out such recommendations lightly so he agreed to give her a shot. She'd walked into the restaurant wrapped in that black dress, just exuding sex; the exact kind of person he'd expect Jack to associate with and one that, while he definitely appreciated the look of, he would not have worked with. But within a few minutes, the act had disappeared and the sophisticated woman had turned into a London girl who teased him about his name and trust with steel in her voice. Just as he thought he'd finally gotten a read on her, she went and threw her head back and laughed without caring that people were staring. John just did not know what to make of her. He couldn't even figure a good estimate on her age. When she'd walked in, he'd pegged her at around 28 but now that she had dropped her mask a bit he was inclined to think she was closer to 24. A puzzle for sure and one he was going to spend some time trying to figure out.

"So how did you meet him?" John asked, curious if she had a similar story to his.

"Lifted his wallet." Rose grinned mischievously at him, tongue perching between her teeth. At his dumbfounded look she continued, "He noticed though and tailed me back to my flat where he asked for it back and then proceeded to try and proposition me."

"Did you take him up on it?" He shot her words back at her.

"Nah, not my type either," she said, raking her eyes over his torso again. Just like that, the tension that had been present when she first sat down at the table was back.

John leaned forward again and opened his mouth but before he could actually speak the waiter appeared again with their wine and an inquiry as to if they were ready to order. He didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed. He should definitely not be engaging in or encouraging this flirtation or whatever it was. Watching Rose turn her charm on the waiter while she asked what his suggestion for dinner would be, he was acutely aware that she was not just a thief. Jack had mentioned it briefly and seeing her interact like this made it glaringly obvious that she was a grifter in addition to being a thief; someone who could manipulate people as easily as he manipulated computer codes and definitely someone to be wary of.

Rose finished ordering and the waiter looked to him for his order. He picked something he remembered hearing in the spiel about specials earlier and handed over his menu. The waiter disappeared and it was once again just him and Rose.

His guard back up, John redirected the conversation. "Do you understand exactly what taking down this target entails?"

Rose bristled at the condescension in his tone. "I'm not an amateur if that's what you're tryin' to get at. I'm very good at what I do and this job's difficult but do-able with a bit of tech support."

"Is that what I am? Tech support?" On his lips, the last two words sounded like they were the vilest poison.

"Don't like the terminology?" Rose asked, tone sickly sweet.

"Not particularly, no. I'm a bit more than tech support."

"Well if ya don't like being talked down to, don't do it to me." Rose bit out the last few words. "You're not the only one breaking a no partner rule for this job so don't act like you're doin' me some huge favor by being here." Rose put her elbows on the table, leaning closer to John, brown eyes boring into his icy blue ones. "We're here to help our friend and I'll be damned if a hacker with an attitude is going to keep me from doin' that."

"Fine, but don't go thinking you can manipulate me. I've seen your type before; pretty little grifters who think that if they flutter their eyelashes the entire world will fall at their feet," John said, crossing his arms again. "Doesn't work on me and anyone trying usually regrets it."

"Bet that's why Jack couldn't charm ya," Rose muttered under her breath.

John glared at her, not deigning to comment on her aside.

"Okay, let's jus' make an agreement to work on this as equals; no bullshit." Rose said, breaking the stalemate. "We don't have to like each other, we just need to find a rhythm for this job to help Ja-" She paused with her mouth open and gave a sheepish smile before continuing, "our mutual friend. After that we can go back to our separate lives. That work for you?"

"Yeah, sounds fantastic." John said after a moment's consideration. Then he flashed a manic grin that caused Rose to blink a few times in shock as it was unexpected in the tense atmosphere. This whole dinner was just confirming her earlier thought that his moods were going to give her whiplash. She took a sip of her wine and let him guide the conversation into more innocuous waters; the merits and challenges of different kinds of security systems.

Throughout the rest of the meal, they stayed on neutral topics; tricks of the trade and a few mutual acquaintances. Declining desert, they asked the waiter to bring the bill. They both pulled out cash to pay with and Rose started giggling again. This time the giggles were joined by a low chuckle from her dinner partner. When they parted it was with plans to meet the next morning at a neutral, secure location to begin designing their attack on the Agency.

As Rose walked away from the restaurant, using what Jack had taught her to ensure she wasn't being tailed; she had to keep reminding herself that the dinner had in no way been a date. Regardless, she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she unlocked the door to her flat. Tomorrow would include John and planning the theft of a lifetime and it could not come fast enough.


	4. Chapter 3

Word Count: 2,112

A/N: I'm sorry I've taken so long between updates this time. I started an internship a couple weeks ago so I actually have to go to work on weekdays which leaves me with less time to write. Plus this chapter was just giving me fits for some reason. Hope you enjoy though! Again, I know this says bank robbers AU and we will actually get to the bank robbing at some point, promise. Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.

* * *

At nine-thirty the next morning, Rose was seated at a café across the street from the building she was supposed to meet John at in half an hour. She was sipping on a coffee, watching the entrances that she could see. She didn't really expect John to use one of them, but if the meeting was compromised, someone else might be stupid enough to. The building was full of offices, mostly empty as it was scheduled to be demolished in a few months to make way for a newer office building.

Fifteen minutes before their scheduled time, Rose let herself in via a rarely used side door. Dressed in a pair of black slacks and a light pink button-down blouse, Rose was confident that she would blend in with the sparse population of workers should anyone see her. She'd also dug out the pair of black frame glasses she'd bought on a whim a few months ago. With those perched on her nose and her hair twisted into a bun she was the very image of a young professional.

She didn't see anyone on her way up to the fifth floor and with one last glance around to make sure no one was lurking in the hallway, she slipped into office 509.

Her mouth dropped open when she caught sight of the desk covered in computer screens and other tech. Rose had expected him to stalk into the room at ten o'clock in the dot, not to already be here and set up.

"Are you gonna continue lurkin' in the doorway or are you going to come in and get to work?" John's gruff voice made Rose jump. He hadn't turned around or given any indication that he heard her come in.

Quickly gathering herself, she strode further into the room and perched on the corner of John's desk. "How long've you been here?" She glanced at the screens but all the code was gibberish to her.

"Don't sleep much, me. Went back to my place after dinner, caught a coupla hours then came straight here to set up." John looked away from the code he was inputting and immediately regretted it. He'd thought she was gorgeous last night but he had written off any reaction as it just having been too long since he'd gone on anything even resembling a date and her having dressed to kill. But now she was sitting on the edge of his desk dressed in downright conservative (compared to last night) business attire and _glasses_ and he thought she might be even more attractive than before.

_Down boy_, he warned himself. Maybe if he could get her to take off the glasses he wouldn't be as affected. There was just something about them…

Seemingly oblivious to his consternation, Rose continued the conversation. "Well I got a perfectly lovely eight hours of sleep and a dose or two of caffeine before coming here so 'm ready to get to work."

She jumped up from the desk and grabbed the long document tube sticking out of her bag. Rose laid it down on his desk and went to drag an unused table closer to the workspace John had already set up. As soon as it was arranged the way she wanted it, where she could see both John and the door, Rose grabbed the document tube off the desk and slid a set of blueprints out then anchored them at the corners with some paperweights she fished out of her bag. That finished, Rose sunk down in the extra office chair and immediately leaned over the document, tapping her pencil against the table as she thought. She'd already mapped out several possible entries into the Agency building and routes to the vault and executive office- the most likely places for Jack's plans to be stored. Now she had to figure out the exact logistics of each plan and what they would each require in terms of equipment and time so she could decide which was the most viable.

Curious, John stopped even pretending to type after a few minutes of silence from his mysterious partner and wandered over to her table. Peering over her shoulder, he squinted at the plans she was studying. When he realized what they were, his mouth dropped open.

He gaped like a goldfish for a moment, mouth opening and closing before he regained the use of his voice. "You have the blueprints for the Agency's building," he stated bluntly, still shocked by the document in Rose's possession.

"Yeah, got 'em a few months back," she answered absently, still trying to figure out if using the ventilation shafts was going to be a possibility.

"And you didn't think to share this information?" John asked, incredulous.

She looked up at him. "Thought you were working on something more...tech-y over there so I was just gonna leave ya to it and tell you about this," she waved her hand at the blueprints, "when you took a break or something."

Rose watched his face turning stony as she explained, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. She was just doing her part of the work while he did his, nothing to get tetchy over.

"Just had to get stuck with a stupid ape, didn't I?" He snapped, crossing his arms across his chest. "Most important job of my life and some airheaded blonde thinks she knows what's best and is withholding vital information from me. Seems like you were just spoutin' nonsense when you were talking about needing trust last night after all. Can't even manage to appear trustworthy, can you?" John started pacing and gesticulating violently while he talked before turning back to pierce Rose with an icy glare.

Rose certainly wasn't without a temper of her own and advanced on the irate hacker, eyes flashing behind her glasses. "I wasn't withholding anything and you know it. You're just being a bastard. I've been here for five minutes and you're laying into me for not telling ya something. Bloody hypocrite you are!" She pushed a finger into John's chest. "Didn't see you jumping to tell me what you're working on either. Trust is a two way street."

John opened his mouth, probably to deliver another scathing comment, but Rose cut him off before he could begin. "Last night you seemed to decide that I was worthy of working with your exalted self, but maybe you were distracted by the 'airheaded' blonde's eyelash fluttering that ya claimed to be immune to. Did your higher reasoning shut down in the face of a little black dress?" She sneered at him. "And don't think I didn't know you were quizzing me while we discussed security systems. I passed your little test, didn't I? Otherwise you wouldn't have shown up today." Rose had paced away from him while she talked, but she turned back and invaded his personal space again. "So you need to get a grip and remember that we're working on this as equals. This is important to me too. Got it?"

Rose and John were both breathing hard, tension crackling between them in the silence. Their faces were only a couple inches apart and John's eyes flicked down to her mouth. It would be so easy to reroute all of this; all he had to do was lean down a bit and his lips would be on hers.

He pulled back. "Got it," he barked, walking back to his desk and cursing himself for even thinking about giving into the temptation his partner presented. "Just would've been nice to know you already had them so I wouldn't have spent the last hour making my way into that part of the Agency's system."

Rose drew in a shuddering breath before answering; it was more difficult than she would've liked to maintain a semblance of calm after their row. "What did you want me to do? Tell you in the restaurant that I had them? Real safe, that." She winced after the last word left her mouth. Sarcasm was not the best way to appear unaffected. The anger flying around the room had felt much too close to passion for her piece of mind. She did not have time to deal with any sort of attraction to John. She certainly didn't have time to figure out why he she found him dead sexy even when he was yelling at her. _Must be the leather jacket_, Rose decided, nothing at all to do with the man wearing it.

"Guess not. Just didn't even consider that you might have blueprints already." John leaned back in his chair. His face was open and honest, surprising after the shouting match they'd just had. "Could've saved me some time, but there might be other useful information in the sector I've hacked into."

_Mood swings_, Rose reminded herself. Really, all she had to do was get through this job without throttling this man or jumping his bones. She could do it, she had self-control. Well, she had at least a little bit of self-control. It could definitely last her through the end of this.

He had started talking again while she was composing herself. "How did you get them anyways? It's not like they're just handing them out to anyone who asks."

Rose let out a sigh and an exaggerated roll of her eyes as she plopped back down in her chair. "It's like you keep forgetting that I'm a thief and a conwoman."

"How could I possibly forget when you keep reminding me?" He snarked with an eye roll of his own. "So which set of skills did you use for this?"

"They're not mutually exclusive skill sets you know. Charmed my way into their archives, convinced the boy down there to get me a cup of coffee while I looked at something rather boring and not at all important. While he was gone I wrote him a note saying that something had come up and I'd had to leave. Went and hid in the back of the archives until the building closed. Found the blueprints and slipped out the next morning as people were coming in." Rose slipped off her glasses and rubbed her temples as she started inspecting the blueprints again.

"That actually worked?" John asked skeptically.

"The boy, Adam I think his name was, was rather easy to toy with. It wasn't even a challenge. Plus their archives aren't all that secure because they don't keep anything incredibly important there." She grinned at him over her shoulder, "Poked around a bit while I was down there. Mostly just a lot of paperwork to make them look like a real business in case the coppers catch wind of them."

John looked reluctantly impressed. "Makes sense. Where would they keep something like Jack's plans then?" He pulled his chair over to her table so he could see what they were up against.

"The executive office and the vault are the likely candidates." She tapped her pencil on the blueprints to indicate the rooms as she mentioned them. "Ideally I'd like to get into both of them. That way we can make sure that we get all of Jack's work back and possibly clean them out in the process. It might distract them from the fact that Jack's plans were the main target for a while," she mused.

Rose tapped a square room on the ground floor. "The vault is where they keep their cut of the big jobs pulled in the city until they can get the cash laundered. Not only will we embarrass 'em by stealing the plans back from right under their noses, but we can rub their faces in the fact that they're not untouchable." She leaned back and met John's eyes, a wicked grin playing across her face.

There was something wolfish about Rose's smile as she proposed that idea for John. For the first time, he could actually see her as a thief. He'd already discovered her temper and pride the hard way, seen her as a grifter and as a woman, but this was another layer. She wasn't cold and calculating like some of the other thieves he'd work with, wasn't worn down and jaded by her profession. No, there was fire burning behind her eyes, ready to devour any obstacles that dared stand between her and a successful heist. She'd been hiding it, keeping the flames banked as they tried to figure each other out he realized. This was someone he could work with.

A smirk appeared on John's face, danger dancing in his eyes. "Fantastic. What do you need from me?"


	5. Chapter 4

Word Count: 3087

More planning for the upcoming debut of John and Rose's joint criminal career. Again, I promise we'll get to robbing banks one day. You _will_ get them robbing the Agency next chapter though! And again, I'm sorry for the long periods of time between updates. This story is never far from my mind though.

Also I'm aware that my technobabble is not convincing and it's because I'm not a tech person. But the way I figure it, it's an AU and I'm creating this world so the tech abides by my rules or lack thereof.

* * *

Since John was already almost into the part of the Agency's system that housed the blueprints and related files, he found the security updates that had been made since Rose had stolen her blueprints. With that updates information, they started planning in earnest.

"I can get in through the ventilation shafts here," she said, pointing at the roof of the building. "As far as I can tell, they're guarded only by the system of lasers they have at each opening."

"Lasers." John looked at his companion like she was insane, and he was beginning to think she was. "Lasers sound like they would be a problem."

"For most people, yeah." She grinned at him wolfishly. "I'm not most people. I have a experience and a system so lasers are easy to beat," she paused and cocked her head to the side. "At least they are as long as I know what kind they are.

"Thanks to you," Rose spun around and planted a kiss on cheek, "I have that information."

John's focus zeroed in where her lips had just made contact, cataloging the lingering warmth and how her lips had felt on his skin.

Rose was on a roll through and oblivious to the impact of her gesture. "But that's where the Agency's problem lies. They're arrogant enough to think that no one can beat their systems so they don't hire warm bodies as guards. They rely on tech and tech by itself can be beaten by ingenuity and better tech. It's going to be a pleasure to prove them wrong."

She looked back at the plans. "I'm going to need to whip up a new harness for the initial vertical drop. I had to cut my last one on the Verne job when I snagged it going over their wall of thorns."

John found his voice again. "The Verne job was you? The police are still scratching their heads over that one. They can't figure out how that necklace was nicked from the expensive, state of the art security system." He paused for a moment, "It was guarded by lasers if I remember right."

"It was. Told you lasers weren't a problem."

Shaking his head, John went back to his computers. He was halfway through writing the program he was going to use to wipe the Agency's systems.

They worked in silence for fifteen minutes or so before Rose asked him if he needed a way into the building.

"I don't know if you can do what you need to do remotely or if you need physical access," she explained.

"I need in. I have to hardwire into their servers to search the whole thing and wipe it. Their computer security is good and would kick me out before I could do what I need wirelessly."

"Alright, I'll work on finding you a way in then."

"Can we not use the same way?" He asked, unsure why they would risk disturbing security in two separate places.

Rose called out the dimensions of the ventilation shafts in response. John cringed, there was no way in hell he would fit in that small of a space.

Rose laughed at his expression. "There's other ways in, especially if I go in first and disarm some of the security. Let me work for a bit and I can give you some options."

Leaving her to it, he went back to writing his code.

Rose was in her element, figuring out where and how to hit a target always energized her. It was a puzzle and one she was good at. School had never interested her much, all of those subjects that did nothing to help her put food on the table at home. She'd found her calling in figuring out people; what made them tick and why they did things.

The same thing applied to heists. People designed security a certain way and it always told a story. When she was done dissecting a security system, Rose could deliver a practical profile on what was important to the person or company and their general outlook on the world. She considered it part of her planning process.

John was equally engrossed in his work. It was going to be a masterpiece, this virus. An unsigned masterpiece by necessity, but he could live with that. It was going to wipe every single bit of data off of the Agency's servers, even the ones that were kept off site. All of their records and ongoing projects would be gone without a hope of recovering any of it.

He was finishing a tricky bit of code when Rose's voice pulled him out his reverie.

"...cameras remotely?"

He looked glanced at her expectant face. "What was that?"

Rose laughed. "You were really focused on whatever you're doing over there weren't you? I've been talking for a couple minutes."

He had the good grace to look sheepish. "Bit of a one track mind, me."

Rose's smile turned wicked, "That's good to know." She ran her eyes over him slowly, letting him know she was appreciating the view.

John could feel the tips of his ears turning pink. He blustered through asking her what her question had been, trying not to let on that he was affected by her flirting.

_Just get through this job_, he thought. _Get through it and then you can see about doing something about your libido. Something that will not involve your blonde partner in crime._

"I was sayin' that I might've found a way in for you but I need to know if you can take out the cameras remotely or if I need to do it once I'm inside." Rose was fighting off a smirk. Flustered John was something she hadn't seen yet and she was vastly entertained by it.

She watched as he pulled up the specs on the cameras installed in the Agency's building. He studied them for a moment before his lips quirked in a sardonic grin.

"Oh, I can take these out remotely. Can do better than that, I'll get into that system tonight and record the empty hallways and replace the live feed with the recorded one." The flustered look from earlier was gone, replaced by derision, "I know this system intimately."

"Run across them a lot or something?" Rose questioned. "I've never seen them before and I've seen a lot of security cameras."

"I designed them." He said bluntly, turning away from her and back to his computer.

Rose could tell that he didn't want to talk about it. The way he threw himself back into his work was like a big flashing keep out sign. Unfortunately for him, she was not going to let the subject just drop.

"Didn't know you designed security cams," she commented.

"Lot of things you don't know about me."

Rose rolled her eyes. He really liked maintaining that whole mystery man image. Maybe a good flirt would get him talking again. She wandered over to his desk and perched on the edge again.

"Anything else I don't know about you that you'd like to share with the class," she purred.

John didn't even look up. "I told you I'm not just tech support, Rose. Don't know why you're so surprised that I do other things."

"And I'm curious as to what those other things are," Rose answered, exasperated. "Can't blame a girl for wondering."

The last bit was muttered under her breath but it didn't keep John from hearing it. He spun around to face her. "Sharing would imply that I trusted you an' we already established that I don't." He waited a beat before continuing, "But if it'll get me a bit of hush so I can get back to work..."

Rose nodded, trying not to show that the comment about not trusting her had stung. She needed to remember that John was not her friend. He was just an ally, a tool for this job.

He leaned back in his chair and crossed leather-coated arms over his chest. "I've degrees in computer engineering and physics and a doctorate in computer science. So yes, I design and build systems. The cameras the Agency has are ones I did up about three years ago."

Rose stored the information about his degrees to ponder over later. She hadn't taken him for the academic sort, especially not formal academics.

"So how did the Agency end up with your security when no one else did, _Doctor_?"

John's jaw clenched, causing a muscle in his cheek to twitch. He turned suddenly stormy eyes back to his computer screen. Rose was starting to think he was just going to ignore her question when his voice, filled with venom, shattered the uncomfortable silence. "How does the Agency get anything? They stole them."

Rose could tell there was more to that story, much more but she also knew she'd pushed him as far as she could for the moment. She hopped off his desk, straightened her blouse and went back to her own work.

It was an hour before anyone spoke again.

John rolled his neck and arched his back, stretching out the kinks that had developed while he'd been hunkered over his keyboard. Turning thirty was hell, he decided. He didn't used to get quite so sore in so short of a time.

He glanced over to where Rose sat bent over a notebook and scribbling something. He wanted to be mad at her for prying into his life earlier but couldn't actually muster up any anger. Pulling himself to his feet, he wandered over to her work table.

"What're you doing?" John murmured next to her ear, leaning over her shoulder.

Rose squeaked and jerked her head up, narrowly missing hitting John's chin.

"Blimey, could you make some noise or somthin' so you don't scare the life outta me?"

John was entertained by the way her accent got stronger when she was startled. "I'm a thief, Rose. Making noise is not exactly in the job description."

"Ugh, you're right." She dropped her head back down, rubbing her eyes. She had taken off her glasses at some point and they were lying on the table. "I was just caught up in this so I didn't see ya get up."

"Everything starting to blur together?" He asked. All the letters and numbers on his screen had started to do so as well.

"Yeah. God, I would kill for a cigarette right about now." She leaned back and stretched, arms above her head.

John was too busy watching the way her shirt strained over her chest to keep words from coming out of his mouth. "You smoke?"

Damn, he was trying to discourage small talk and personal stories, not initiate them.

She shot him a wry smile. "Not for years, but still get the craving sometimes when I've been working on a problem as intricate as this." She waved a hand at the paper and notebooks that were spread out on top of the blueprints now.

It looked like absolute chaos to John but he assumed she had it in some sort of order. "Want to explain it all to me? Give your eyes a break and fill me in."

Rose showed him the ventilation shaft she was going to go through and where it would let out in the building.

"I'm going to finish making my new harness tonight for the vertical drop. There's a camera right next to where I want to drop into the hallway so that's where your ability to override your own cameras comes in. I'll need to have them taken care of before I go in."

"I can do that."

"I know," she said, flashing him a sweet smile.

"There's a maintenance entrance on the east side of the building that doesn't seem to have as much security, at least on the outside door. And what security there is should be easy enough for you to bypass without a problem.

"It opens into a closet that they store some of the stuff for window washing and outdoor maintenance. The inside door that leads into the building has all of the security that the other doors do and as you know, the door security at the Agency is top notch. We'd need a couple more days than we have to crack it properly."

Rose paused so John could confirm her assessment of the door security.

He glanced at the model numbers of the system that Rose had written down and nodded.

"So how're you planning on having me get in that door then?" He asked.

She grinned, that bit of fire he'd seen earlier reigniting in her eyes. "It's much easier to open a door from the inside. So once I'm in, I'll just open the door for you."

A chuckle escaped John, "That's fantastic."

"Isn't it just. Anyone with an Agency passcard should be able to open this door since there's no sensitive material behind it or anything. So I figured I'd drop by tomorrow as people are leaving for the day and pick me up a passcard."

Rose paused and twisted around in her seat to look John in the face. "I didn't ask you but I was hoping to get this job done as soon as possible, before they really have time to sell Jack's plans or anythin'. So I'll be ready by tomorrow night, would that work for you?"

He did some quick calculations in his head, "Yeah, everything should be ready to go by then."

"Brilliant!" She exclaimed.

John was still recovering from the brightness of her smile as she began to lay out the rest of her plan.

She highlighted the quickest route to the servers for him and indicates the path she would be taking to get to the vault. She would clean that out and rendezvous with John in the executive office so they could tag team the extra security measures there.

As she talked, she explained why she'd set things up the way she had and the pieces of paper scattered around the table started to form a pattern. They each had pertinent details regarding a certain aspect of their mission and John found he was impressed by the way she was able to work with the small details and big picture at the same time.

He asked a few questions during her explanation and offered one or two suggestions but her plan was solid. Before this moment he hadn't been entirely sure they could pull this off. The Agency was a tough nut to crack but apparently Jack had been right in his assessment of Rose Tyler. She was one hell of a thief.

Unaware of John's approval, Rose bit the edge of her thumb, waiting for his opinion of the plan as a whole. There were a few security tangles that she needed him to unravel on the technical end and she hoped he had enough time for them.

"So...whatcha think?" She finally questioned as he continued to just stare at her papers.

"I think it'll work," he pronounced. I have to put the final touches on the virus I'll be inserting into their system and then I'll worm my way into the cameras to record tonight's activity. The few extra bits of security on the upper levels shouldn't be a problem since you have all the models and systems laid out for me. I'll make sure to bring the equipment I need to take care of them."

He straightened from where he had been leaning on Rose's work table. "I like your exit plan of leaving everything as we found it so they don't know how we managed to clean them out. Very nice. Neat. We do need a rendezvous point away from the building to meet at afterwards though."

Rose pulled a map of the area out from under some other papers. At his surprised look, she told him that she was prepared for everything.

"There," he said pointing to a corner two blocks north and one block west of the building. "There's an old police box on that corner. We can meet there and figure out what we came away with and how we're gonna get it to Jack without implicating ourselves."

"Alright, sounds good to me."

"Fantastic."

"You use that word a lot, you know," Rose commented as she began to gather all of her papers.

John was already settling back into his desk chair. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, s'just an observation." She finished rolling up her blueprints and stuck the tube in her bag. "I'm planning on starting at 1 am, will the cameras be out by then?"

"They can be," he said evenly, aware that she was subtly trying to take control of this entire project. She'd find out once they were actually working that he wasn't willing to give over control that easily.

"Alright, I'll see you then!"

John had turned back to his computers, pointedly not watching her walk out of the room like he would've liked to.

He never heard her coming.

Rose spun his chair around to face her one more time and kissed his cheek again, lingering and near the corner of his mouth this time. When she pulled back it was with a smug smirk firmly in place.

"Don't work too long; you're going to need stamina tomorrow night." She tossed him a wink and then strolled out of the room, hips switching and a grin on her face as she was certain she held the power now.

The anticipation of the heist was running through her veins, making her giddier than alcohol could ever accomplish. Tomorrow night would be the biggest night of her life and if she happened to be factoring John into her after-heist plans, no one had to know but her.

When the door closed behind her, John stared at it, rubbing his forehead with one hand. He'd decided earlier that Rose Tyler was one hell of thief. He felt like he could've gone without the reminder that she was one hell of a woman as well.

Forcing himself to ignore the ghost of her kiss and the images her innuendo had conjured up, he got back to work. The excitement of beating the Agency at their own game and successfully pulling this off was better than caffeine which was good since he wasn't sleeping anytime soon. John smirked; wouldn't Rose love to know just how fantastic his stamina really was.


	6. Chapter 5

Ummm yes hello. Sorry about the delay between chapters, but this is a long one so I hope it makes up for it! We're finally at the robbery! I've also caught up to the section I wrote months back (the ending scene) that I've been building up to. Hope you enjoy! Thank you so much to all of you who are reading, whether silently or not. I really really appreciate it and I _love_ reading what you have to say about it!

Also I lost some of the italics I had in here when transferring formats but I'm sneaking time on my work computer to post this so I don't have time to fix it right now!

* * *

At 1 am on the appointed night, Rose was standing on the rooftop of the Agency's building, preparing herself for the task ahead. After checking her bag one last time to make sure she wasn't missing anything, Rose began to slip on her new harness. Adrenaline was already slipping through her veins, steadying her hands and sharpening her senses.

"Cameras have been out for an hour," John's voice fractured the night's silence, "in case you were wonderin'."

Rose jumped at the sound of his voice, eyes searching the darkness for him. "What the hell are you doing up here, John?"

He stepped out from the deep shadows next to a different set of air ducts than the ones Rose was planning to use and leaned against one, smirking at her.

"I would ask how you got up here without me noticing but I don't think I want to know," she continued, returning to tightening the straps on her harness, checking and double-checking every strap.

John watched intently. His partner was dressed in all black. Apparently her version of the traditional catsuit was some sort of skin tight black trousers and a form fitting, long sleeved, black t-shirt. Her blonde hair was hidden under a cap and christ she just had to be running her hands all over herself while checking that harness.

He bit his tongue before the offer to check it for her actually came out of his mouth.

Satisfied with the harness she turned to face John. "So why are you up here? Checking up on me?" There was steel in her voice despite her teasing tone.

"Just thought I'd let you know that I've confirmed the cameras are down." He shrugged, "Like to be thorough me."

"Alright," she said, looking at him like he was a bit of a nutter. "Since you're up here, is there anything you want to go over before we go in?"

"You let me in, I go to the server room, you go to the vault. We meet on the executive level, clean it out and then get the hell out of here and meet at the rendez-vous point.

"No human guards, cameras are out. You have the equipment needed to bypass the electronic security you'll find on the way to the vault." John stopped and grinned at her. "Did I miss anything?"

"Don't look so smug, mister. Its not attractive."

That was an utter lie. The little smirk on his face was screaming "fuck me" and it almost made her want to ditch the mission and drag him off and make him honor its intent.

Later, she promised herself.

"You did leave one thing out actually, but I'll let it slide since I just remembered them this morning myself." She tossed a small box at him. "Was going to give it to you when I let you in but this is better."

Rose waited for him to open the box and take out the small earbud that was nestled inside. "Thought it would be nice to be able to communicate while we're in different parts of the building."

John looked at the device skeptically as Rose rushed on.

"They're secure. I've used them on the couple of cons I've run with a partner."

He still didn't say anything, just slipped it in his ear, silently acceding that it was a good idea.

Rose took one more look down the ventilation shaft then started walking towards John, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Her gear was all securely attached to her.

John was a little unnerved by the predatory gleam in her eyes as she stalked forward but stood his ground.

"See ya downstairs," she said. He heard a click behind him as she rose up on her toes and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

Then she took off running. Rose lept into the open ventilation shaft and John was left on the roof watching the rope she'd secured to the railing behind him disappear after her.

And she looked at me like I was crazy, he thought. She definitely had a few loose screws.

It'd take an interrogation team to make him admit it out loud, but he liked that about her.

Grin firmly in place and ready to get started, John left the roof to go break into the Agency's maintenance closet.

Rose crawled through the air ducts, counting the opening she passed, ticking them off against her mental map until she reached the vent she wanted to use. So far the calculations she'd made (that John had insisted on checking) had held true and she had enough rope to make it to the ground.

She carefully removed the vent cover and laid it inside the duct so she could replace it on her way out. Rose stuck her head out to make sure the layout matched what she had studied on the blueprints.

Satisfied that they did and that she was in the right spot, she lowered herself to the floor.

"Good job the cameras are out, yeah?" She said softly, staring up into the one right next to the vent she'd just come out of. "This one is is right next to where I came down."

"Well aren't you just taking your sweet time," John snarked in her ear. He was getting impatient just standing in the closet.

"Like to see you crawl through those vents any faster."

Before he could respond, the door in front of him popped open and a triumphant Rose Tyler was in front of him, brandishing the keycard sh had procured earlier.

"Worked like a charm," she proclaimed. "Now then, let's get moving."

She set off down the corridor at a light jog, heading towards the vault without giving him a chance to reply.

John wen the opposite direction, gritting his teeth and fighting the urge to remind her that she was not actually in charge. That would just start a fight and they couldn't afford that now that the mission was in-progress. So he kept his silence and made a mental note that this was one of the reasons he worked alone.

His musings lasted him all the way to the server room. They'd upgraded the security here from what had been indicated on Rose's blueprints or in the security data he'd hack. Luckily the system was still one he was familiar with.

John popped the keypad open, exposing the wires, and hooked his codebreaker in. He cursed under his breath when he shocked his fingers.

"I can still hear you ya know," Rose chastised playfully over the comms.

"Good for you," he muttered, focused on not setting off the sensitive alarm. This model required delicacy and precision."

"God, are you ever not grumpy? You'd think being in the middle of robbing the Agency blind would put you in a bit better mood. I'm feeling great, all this adrenaline…" she trailed off.

"I'll consider a better mood when we're free and clear."

There that should do the trick. His codebreaker whirred to life, numbers racing across the screen.

"I'll hold you to that," Rose answered. She knew she probably shouldn't be flirting with him in the middle of their heist but if just felt so natural; all the banter and teasing and struggling for the upper hand.

She was enjoying this far too much, but she always did love a good break-in.

Rose skidded to a stop in front of the first door that led to the vault. She pulled out her own codebreaker and hooked it in.

The door popped open twenty seconds later as it was not as sophisticated as the one John was dealing with.

Rose stepped into the vault's antechamber. This is where the real vault security was located. Fingerprints, retinal scans, and the right keycard were required to open the reinforced steel door.

Luckily the Agency made the smae assumption they had on the roof.

Lasers wouldn't keep Rose Tyler out of the vault just as they hadn't kept her out of the building.

"Gotcha," John muttered darkly as his device, with a little extra help from him, finally cracked the code to the server room. Their equipment was good, but he was better.

"Less cryptic statements would be good when I'm dangling from the ceiling in the vault."

"Why are you-" he cut himself off, "never mind, don't want to know. I'm into the server room."

"Brilliant. Go do you tech thing, I'll take care of things here."

John shook his head. It was taking some getting used to, this having Rose in his ear. It was one thing to not be able to get the blonde off his mind and another thing entirely to be literally unable to get her out of his head during this mission.

He sat down at the computer terminal and immediately input the search parameters for Jack's stolen, top-secret project. As it ran, he set up his own equipment on the small amount of table space.

A ding alerted the hacker to the finished search. As he suspected, the stolen plans were hidden behind a partition on a secure part of the server. If he was right about who had designed the computer security though…

John keyed in a few commands.

A cold smile stretched across his face as he bypassed the partition. He hated that he was so well acquainted with the inner workings of the Agency but it had its uses today.

He downloaded the files he needed onto a flash drive before inserting a different drive that contained his virus.

He watched as it infiltrated every corner of the system, leaving nothing intact. When the off-site servers made contact to try and replace the lost data the virus, with some help from John, back-hacked them remotely and wiped them as well.

Once it was finished he packed his equipment back in his bag and headed out the door, making sure that he left no trace of his presence in the room.

It was something he and Rose had agreed upon with no argument; no one would know they had been there until they arrived in the morning to find the vault empty and the computers useless for anything besides playing solitaire.

John headed towards the stairs at a jog.

"Rose, where are you at with the vault?"

"Just left it. Coupla things were too bulky for me to get out with but I have quite the haul." She sounded like she was talking through a smile. "Probably gonna need to put some of it in your bag so it's not so heavy."

"Meet me a level down from the exec level so we can do that," John replied, trying to ignore the extraneous chatter so that maybe she'd stop. He was just as hyped on adrenaline as she was but John used it to fuel tight control over himself during a job. It seemed to have the opposite effect on Rose, making her chatty and cheerful.

Good thing this was a walkaway, a one time gig. She might drive him completely insane otherwise.

He leaned against the wall across from the lifts on the appropriate level, waiting for his partner to show up.

"Cleaned them out good and proper." The voice didn't just come from his earpiece, it was behind him

Rose thoroughly enjoyed the squeak of surprise her clandestine arrival had earned her. "Come on now, big man like you scared by a little thief sneaking up on you?"

She gave him an appraising look, running her eyes over the length of his body. "How old are you anyways?"

"How old are you?" He shot back, not amused by her antics.

"A lady never reveals her age," rose replied in the posh tone she'd used when they first met.

"Well then I'm not going to either."

Rose looked up from where she'd crouched to divide the loot and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you saying you're a lady? Because that's a damn shame. I had plans for later that required different...equipment." She raked her eyes over him again, lingering around his belt.

"Oi, mind on the mission please," John spluttered, ears turning pink in response to her blatant come on.

They finished dividing the loot as John directed the minimal conversation to what Rose had found in the vault. That done, they made their way to the stairs that would get them to the executive level.

John went first so he could take care of the security on the first door. A series of beeps announced that the door was unlocked.

He opened it a few inches and peeked into the hallway, only slightly distracted by Rose pressing against his back trying to see as well.

He was about to step forward into the hallway when he heard something that caused him to stop. Listening a bit closer he stiffened and stepped back, almost knocking his partner over in his haste.

Rose opened her mouth to ask him what he was on about but John clamped a hand over her mouth and started dragging her down the stairs, his other hand a vise around her wrist.

When they came to a stop, Rose yanked away from him, shaking her wrist. "What the hell was that about?" she demanded, something very close to anger flashing in her eyes.

"We have a problem," John said shortly, a storm of his own brewing behind blue eyes.

"I'll say! You can't just go draggin' me around like that," Rose snapped.

The hacker rolled his eyes. "Can we keep the domestics out this? You don't have to like how I do things, but I just saved your pretty little arse so maybe some thanks would be nice."

Rose just gave him an answering eye roll and made no effort to thank him.

"There's a guard up there," John finally revealed.

"What? Are you sure?" Rose blurted out, eyes wide. "There was nothing in any of the security plans to indicate there would be a guard."

"Heard them walking towards us."

"I didn't hear anything," she objected.

"Good hearing, me," he said, turning to open his bag.

"Well you should have with those ears," Rose muttered to his back.

"Oi!" he looked over his shoulder to shoot her an offended look.

Ignoring it, Rose began talking, ready to get around this unforeseen obstacle. "So, how are we gonna get past the guard without alerting them that we're here?"

She paused. "I'm assuming we're sticking to the plan where no one knows we were here until opening tomorrow?"

John shot her a withering glance that told her exactly what he thought of that question.

"Okay, yeah, that's still best. I mean with that plan in place we can't just, I don't know, knock him out," she was pacing now, gesturing with her hands while she talked. "Don't know when he'd come to and sound the alarm."

"No violence." John didn't even look up from the laptop he was now typing on as he said it, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Rose glared at the back of his head. She'd wished before that he would stop having so many mood swings but now that he was all focused and grumpy she wasn't sure she liked it. Even so, they'd been in the Agency's building for less than thirty minutes and she'd alternated between wanting to strangle him and wanting to snog him multiple times. Dear God the man was frustrating!

"What are we going to then?" she asked aloud.

John could hear the frustration in her voice but ignored it while he typed a few more commands into his laptop. "We're going to distract him."

He hit one last key and then shut his laptop, stowing it back in his bag. "That should do it. Let's get going."

"What did you do?" Rose's voice was dripping with annoyance and barely leashed anger. She hated being left out of the loop.

"Sent the guard on a wild goose chase," John answered, his manic grin making a reappearance. He started up the stairs again. When he realized Rose wasn't following him, he turned around with a huff. "What? We only have short window before he comes back."

"You can't just make executive decisions like that and not tell me what you're doing." John got the distinct impression that if they weren't in the middle of a job, she would be yelling. "That's not how a partnership works."

"Like I said, I don't need you to approve of what I do. This is a one-time job and I work better alone."

"Yeah, it shows," she spat as they entered the hallway on the executive level.

"I was saving us time by getting rid of the guard as quickly as possible. So sorry that I didn't ask your permission and hurt your feelings." John laid the sarcasm on thick, aggravated with this whole conversation. He just wanted to get this job over with so this little blonde thief would stop tying him in knots.

"If you have to know, I set off one of the proximity alarms by the northwest door. Those things have a hair trigger and go off all the time. It was in the logs. If there's a guard here, he'd be required to go check it out regardless."

He glared at her over his shoulder as he popped the casing off the keypad that guarded the door to the main executive office. "Satisfied?"

_Not nearly,_ she thought, _not yet_.

"Good enough. Just focus on getting us in."

Rose nervously counted off the seconds while John hacked his way in.

This much time since the guard had left.

This much time until he would be back.

Seconds slipped from one category to the other and a fresh wave of adrenaline flashed through Rose's system. This was a new challenge and she was ready for it.

As soon as she heard the door lock disengage, Rose pushed past John and into the room, immediately starting her search for the safe.

John sat down at the desk, made sure the computer was indeed wiped and then started systematically checking the desk for flash drives and any other items of interest.

"Oh you're a beauty," he heard Rose croon, awe in her voice.

John turned around and saw her running her hands over a safe like he imagined she might caress a lover.

"It's a Torchwood S250," she said reverently.

"Can you break it?  
"You have no appreciation for the beautiful things in life do you? This is a gorgeous piece of engineering. One single piece of steel, four inches thick, manipulated to create a seamless box. Glass re-lockers and thermal re-lockers standard plus a five digit combination instead of the standard three or four."

"'M not a safe cracker, Rose and if you're done lusting over the safe, can you hurry up and get the damn thing open?"

"Think so, yeah. Never actually worked on one of these before but I've studied the specs and brought the equipment I need."

She glanced up as she took a mini-blowtorch out of her bag. "If you're going to continue to search the room, I'm gonna need you to be quiet once I start actually cracking here."

Rose turned the safe around and then switched the torch on. She was about to hold it to the safe when John interrupted.

"I'm assuming a 'thermal re-locker' does exactly what it sounds like and won't that thing set off heat sensors?"

Rose grinned. "Cold flame. Newest thing in the safe-cracking world. Just got it last week. Been dying to use it."

With that remark Rose held the torch to the back of the safe, making a small hole through the steel. Once it was large enough, she inserted her scope and got down to the business of cracking the safe.

Finished with his search, John watched her work the safe with single-minded intensity. The frustration he'd felt earlier drained away in the face of her dedication and her glee at seeing the safe. She might be chatty and cheery while working, but she was definitely a professional. He had to admit that doing this job with anyone else would have been a nightmare and likely would've ended in a failure. He and Rose might butt heads but Jack had been right; she was the best thief he had ever seen in action.

"Aha!" Rose exclaimed as the safe swung open. She checked her watch. "Four minutes and three seconds. Not bad for a safe I've never seen before. Probably the fastest time out there since this model's only been available for a week and a half or so.

"It's a shame I can't take any credit," she mused as she moved the contents of the safe into her bag and replaced her tools.

She stood, hefting her bag over her shoulder and reattaching it to her harness. "Let's get out of here."

John let her lead them back to the maintenance door he'd entered through. She used the keycard to open it again and gestured for him to go on.

"See ya on the outside," Rose said with a grin that spread across her whole face. She reattached her harness to the rope dangling from the vent and prepared to get back up to the roof.

John slipped out of the Agency building with a grin on his face as well and made his way towards their rendezvous point to wait for Rose.

They met up a few blocks away from the Agency at the appointed rendezvous spot: an old police box.

Rose grinned at the sight of him leaning up against the battered, blue wood, looking like he owned the damn thing. She ran the last few meters to him and dropped her bag at his feet before barreling into his arms. He was waiting for her and picked her up spinning her around, his rough chuckle joining her giddy laughter.

She landed with her back to the police box and smiled up at him. "We did it!"

John looked affronted. "Did you think we wouldn't?"

"Dunno, neither of us have worked with a partner before," she mused. "Didn't know if we'd actually work well together. A lot could've gone wrong."

"Seemed to go alright to me," he offered offhandedly, as if they hadn't just gotten away with the heist of the year with little to no problems.

"Well you definitely kept your word about being in a better mood once we were out," Rose teased. "Better with two, then?"

She tucked her tongue between her teeth as she grinned up at him, deliberately trying to provoke him.

The thrill of the heist was thrumming through her veins still and all she wanted to do was act on the attraction that had been simmering between them since their first meeting.

John's eyes fixated on the sliver of tongue he could see and he broke.

Pushing her back against the blue box, he slanted his lips across hers. Rose opened her mouth immediately, inviting him in. There was nothing slow about this first kiss. It was all hunger and excitement and heat, teeth nipping and tongues dueling for control.

John vaguely registered that she'd taken off her harness before meeting him as both of their hands scrambled to find skin. Just as Rose managed to get a hand under his jumper he grabbed her wrists and wrenched them up, pinning them above her head.

He moved his mouth to her neck, sucking and nipping his way down its length. He could hear her gasping for breath near his ear and smirked as he ground his hips into hers, causing her to let loose a whimper.

Rose could barely form a coherent thought. Holy hell, she'd known that there was passion bubbling just under John's stoic surface but this was beyond anything she'd expected. She wanted everything though. She wanted his lips back on hers and she wanted to touch him. Wanted to drag him back up by his ears and pin him against the wood and have her way with him.

"Definitely better with two," John whispered in her ear darkly, pushing his hips forward again.

"Unfortunately," he swiped his tongue around the outer rim of her ear before continuing, "I still don't trust you."

The hand that had been grasping at her hip suddenly moved and Rose felt the sturdy wall behind her disappear as she tumbled into the filthy interior of the police box.

John quickly shut the door and locked it before she could recover.

"Nothin' personal, love. Just don't trust anyone. I'll make sure you still get your cut and your equipment back."

"You bloody bastard!" Rose shouted, banging her fist against the door.

John smile, imagining the seething woman on the other side of the door. He had a feeling this was going to be the only time he'd be able to pull one over on her like this.

Not that he'd get the opportunity again anyways, this was a one-time gig.

"How the hell am I supposed to get out of this fucking box?" She kicked the door violently but despite the age of the wood, it was still sturdy.

"I'll drop the key off with Jack in a couple of hours and tell him to come get you. Until then, I suggest you be very quiet so a concerned citizen doesn't call you in. Wouldn't do for a police officer to find an actual criminal in a defunct police box."

Rose could hear the amusement in his voice and wanted to strangle him. He'd been planning this from the beginning and she never saw it coming.

God help him if she ever saw him again after this.

"Nice working with ya, Rose." He tucked the key in his pocket, slung both their bags over his shoulders and strode off down the street towards his car.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips at the litany of curses that were streaming from the incongruous blue box on the corner.


End file.
